ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 'Chekan Winter'

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Donkey Kong Country

Well, it's been relatively quiet recently, but here's a mix from newly knighted OC ReMixer Prophecy, originally created for the Kong in Concert project but abbreviated/adapted a bit for submission here. The ReMixer, aka Jason Miller, writes:

"...there's been some questions as to the origin of the remix title. The "Cheka" were Soviet secret police. I think the name is appropriate for the mood of the song."

I'm not sure if I would have conjured mental images of stern, slavic men running around and being... official... had the image not been planted there by Jason's explanation, but it seems fair enough; think cold, distant, uncompromising trance/electronica with a hard edge, and you're there. The build here takes a little longer than some mixes, and things really only get going full-steam at around at 2'22" when the four-on-the-floor kick drops. Prophecy's added in a large variety of elements that wouldn't appear in a more cookie-cutter trance piece, at times going pretty far outside the trance mold and venturing into breakbeat. There's choral elements, church bells, mucho bell timbres for that wintry feel, layered percussion, filter breaks, a kickin' extended breakout at around 4'05" that's especially groovematic, and while the core underlying progression does pretty much stick to its guns throughout, variation efforts are clearly running on high for structure and additive/subtractive groove layering. Judge Larryshkaya Ojinova played the mixed-heritage card with his thoughts:

"Being half-Russian myself, something like gothic trance wasn't going to be literally evocative of the motherland, but I definitely see the Russian influence here from many of the elements in play like the choir vox, bells, and strings, as well as the cadence of the source tune arrangement from 2:48 to 3:14 in particular. I thought the winter vibe was captured very well. I could envision DK & Diddy having to navigate through the most difficult Gorilla Glacier level imaginable."

It definitely conveys cold temperatures effectively while being a hot mix, and in this sense is comparable to McDonald's McDLT from days of yore, which kept the hot side hot and the cold side cold. Great, solid electronica from Prophecy - looking forward to more.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Now where did i put those glow sticks? Great mix. It has an awesome atmosphere to it.

- animatedjay on April 14, 2009
Liontamer;510755 wrote: Agree with that? What a dumb thing to do. :lol:

Am I imagining things, or did someone tried to point out what I do? Yet in a Review thread? Keep it off.
This song is still quite playable. The entire drum work change at 4:06 surely keep things interesting and heavier. Also, I love the brief breakdown around 4:45; good use of Irina's voice. Still a keeper.

- Txai on February 22, 2009
Txai;45253 wrote: I agree with Prot, because the majority of the epic trances are ackward.

Agree with that? What a dumb thing to do. :lol:
Surprised I never posted here, as this was definitely an eye-opening from Kong in Concert. Jason transformed the source into a completely different animal, while still keeping the winter imagery of the source here intact. The imagery seems like a lot more violent snow storm than anything in the original game. Good stuff!

- Liontamer on February 22, 2009
I'm absolutely in love with this song, definitely my favorite track of the KiC album. It genuinely gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Simply amazing.

- TonyHex on January 7, 2007
I absolutely love this remix. It really catches the theme really well, and in a GOOD trance mix as well!
After I read about the Russian influence I always imagine an FF-ish RPG with russian soldiers in a turn based battle. o.O

- YellowYoshi1 on July 13, 2006
I first heard this song on vgmix in Summer 2004. That was the summer when I didn't have air conditioning in my apartment, and I lived in Las Vegas (I'm still in the same apartment, but got a new A/C eventually).
Anyway, I live in Las Vegas where it gets up to 115 degrees during July. I would never have been able to get through the summer if it hadn't been for Prophecy. That song seemed to cool off my apartment whenever it played.
This is still one of my favorite songs from Prophecy. He needs to submit something else for this site; I'm waiting for "Soul Rust" and "Back to the Place that I Once Knew" (I think you can get one of them on www.prophetikmusic.com along with lots of other good songs).

- Ghetto Lee Lewis on March 3, 2006
This song, like so much on Kong in Concert, is bloody amazing.
Prophecy leans heavily on reverb and vox, but... I like reverb and vox, so I'm not complaining.

- Fusilliban on January 11, 2006
This remix really rings a lot of bells, and I like it!
Very cool when the beats around 2:30 came up, pumped
up the tempo real good.

- Bummerdude on September 16, 2005
of course, speaking as a DKC/DKC2 fan who has beaten both games more times than he can count, of course I loved the snow levels because of the beautiful graphics (hey! it's snowing now!) and so of course I recognized immediately the source of the mix, and of course, I love it.
This is more than just a good remix, though. This is one of THE BEST trance mixes I have ever heard, and I believe it transcends into the realm as quality music in its own right, outside of the association with its source. Excellent, excellent track, a beautiful constantly evolving trance epic. Kudos to Prophecy

- _ddog_ on February 16, 2005
Very nice. Great atmosphere and how the russian influence still manages to stay in a trance song is very clever.

- Sega. on February 15, 2005
I haven't played much donkey kong, and this wasn't the kind of remix I was expecting. You really blew me away this is great...keep up the good work!!

- Red Light District on February 14, 2005
Damn, this is fantastic. The style is clever, and the execution is slick. Not much more to say about this really, it's an instant classic.

- Fray on February 10, 2005
I liked the Kong in Concert version better. good job!

- dragnmastr85 on February 9, 2005
This piece is really well done. Though a lot of repetition, it has good use of Techno. It's giving me ideas too. 9.9;;. Great Job. Only problem is that it's a bit loud compared to the other ones. I had to alter my volume a bit when I tried listening.
-Chrono721

- Chrono721 on February 7, 2005
I like this. I like this a lot.

- benevolensaurus on February 7, 2005

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